Reviews

I’ve wanted to get to this Hamburger joint for a little while now. Finally made it with a couple of friends on Thursday. We were a little apprehensive with a restaurant empty (this was after lunch time) except for a couple by the window. The University couple was so much in love that those burgers could have been dusty crackers or Chateaubriand on the banks of the Seine.

We ordered with the really pleasant and sparkly waitress on her third day at work. We asked her many questions about the menu because it was our first time. She was enthusiastic with her answers and was very helpful in obtaining answers to the ones she couldn’t answer. She’s a real asset to any restaurant’s customer service quality.

One hamburger was ordered with mozza and well done. Arrived perfect.
Another burger was ordered with mozza and medium. Arrived perfect.
The other one was ordered with mushrooms and medium. Arrived perfect.

All the burgers arrived to our table very quickly with a heap of fries, crunchy without any hint of oil. And the fresh fried mushrooms were generous.

I have a vision of that mushroom burger in my peripheral and a guilty pleasure feeling building behind my saliva bucket. The burgers were so good that my guilt wants to go to Burgers etc alone… that’s because I want to order two for myself!

The waiter asked me what type of tea I would like to drink?
My mistake was to say, “you chose”.
So, he grabbed a pot from a deserted table and added hot water. But the problem was that one hundred grams of hot water in a cold pot does not a steaming tea make.
My second attempt to correct the “cold tea” situation was to ask for a new pot with a different tea variety. The waiter zoned out as if I had asked him to pick the leaves from the fields in China.

The Sui Mai steamers were bland and cold.
The shrimp rice noodles we had were garnished with rubbery tasteless shrimps.
The dried fried beef rice noodle was eaten to stave off starvation.

And the topper was my buddy wanting the last plate of deep fried squid that was circling the dinning area. I noted to the nice cart lady that this being the last dish, “Could it be cold”? Her gray hair waggled a definite NO and nodded an enthusiastic, it’s HOT. We took one bite and spat it out. Now the cart lady wanted to “nuke” the squid. I declined the offer and call the owner/waiter over to return the item. After a pregnant pause, he agreed to cross it off our list. And two minutes later we saw the same ABC (already been chewed) squid circling the room containing our spat out pieces. OMG…. we roared with laughter and asked for our check.

And now the positives:
It was cheap, I won’t be going back and the owners will never read this.

Now I can finally have a decent lamb burger without cooking it myself.

The lamb patty was cooked just right without the need to become a charcoal briquette manufacturing plant. Take note Cactus Club on Broadway; your last overpriced burger tasted like I’ve licked my grandmother’s burnt cast-iron pot!

And extra thanks to Max and the nice young lady behind the grill whom made sure my lamb burger was not underdone by using a thermometer.

And another thanks to Vera’s for using a fresh bun that’s dense enough to hold the meat and condiments. Remember when White Spot baked their own hamburger buns?

The combination of these ‘secret’ ingredients subdued my appetite and conveyed the feeling of utter satisfaction.

Yes I recommend Vera’s for their Lamb Burgers; simple, unpretentious, delicious and frugal (all this for under $10.00 with a large diet coke). What’s there not to like?

The restaurant had only been open only 2 weeks when I went there.
The front end staff was very nice and greeted us warmly and gave us a choice of tables; upstairs or down. We opted for the sushi bar and had a caterpillar roll, spicy scallop roll, Dragoon roll, negitoro roll and tobiko with quail eggs. The caterpillar roll with cream cheese tasted odd and made the roll tasted a bit dry and heavy. The spicy scallop roll and tobiko sushi tastes regular, nothing special. The Dragoon roll’s tempura prawn was greasy.

Changed to a table in the main dinning area and order some fusion dishes. Lamb shank… one shank in some brown cornstarch gravy (cumin and star anise): small serving, no flavour (from chef Boyd-R-Dee in a tin?), we did not finish. The Kung Pao chicken with green onions tasted bland and was also a small serving. Tapas sizes at full serving prices.
These dishes were obviously cooked by a ‘fill in’ chef who has no idea how to cook with a wok or any thing about “wok heat”.

The bill came to $73.00 for two before tips and included 2 beers.
At these prices, the decor and good service (Nancy) is not enough. But because I have faith in the operators, I will give them another try before I write them off.

PS. Baby_lao and skatie, you are both right, I checked my notes and
I tried to order the tobiko with quail eggs but were replaced with grilled eel. I also had the Red dragon roll and your also right; the tampura prawn was in the Dynamite roll (still greasy). Thanks for keeping me on my toes but my review stands.

Went there for my friend’s Thirty-third birthday dinner on Tuesday night. Made phone reservations with Hostess (Joy) and was greeted warmly at the door. But not before meeting owners Stephan (front of house) and Emanuel (Chef) at the entrance whilst on their breather break. They assured me the steaks are par excellence. I joked with them that the “real” French chefs are still in France but they’ve sent us their French trained dishwashers as a substitute!

We both ordered the three courses dinner from the carte du jour with the steaks done medium rare. One order with black pepper sauce and the other with mushroom sauce. The plate was trimmed with half a baked tomato Au gratin and plenty of frites. To start; the bread arrived at our table warmed with a small dish of unsalted butter and MMmmm. A mixed green salad with some sliced cherry tomatoes was served before our main course and a fruit crumble after. A couple of beers and Americano’s rounded up our meal. All this at a modest $54.00 plus tips and Taxes for two.

They did deliver the goods on the rib eye steaks (very tender) and the sauces were superb. The frits were crisp, clean with out any hint of oil, an added side dish of mayo and I finished every delicious frite, with my fingers (Bistro style).

I only have two minor distractions: The music was (?) and perhaps an injection of Bach would be nicer on my ears. And the restaurant was loud, LOUD but maybe that’s a la Style Bistro. Just be prepared to be boisterous and have some fun.

My friend invited me for a “late night menu” at Matsuyama after a boy’s night out poker game. Winners pay for the losers…I ate for free!

The restaurant was a nice surprise in Richmond. I found the place to be very clean and bright. Service was efficient and pleasant. My complaint could be a big one. The two sushi chefs behind the counter were wearing their casual summer street cloths; what’s with that? And one of the chefs kept touching his face and then kept on making the sushi rolls. We sat in a booth and I was facing away from the sushi bar and did not observe this until we walked by to leave.

We ordered 9 pcs of salmon (Atlantic farmed), 2pcs spicy scallop, flying fish roe, tamago, nigiri sushi. 4 pcs raw oyster, beef sashimi, salmon roll, spicy chopped scallop roll, and spicy tuna roll. All the food was what you would expect from a decent Japanese sushi place. Nothing stood out of the ordinary, except for the beef sashimi. The price for two was reasonable; $32.00 plus tips for the meal.

Good for a neighbourhood lunch quickie. The 6pcs tuna nigiri sushi was delicious. The #89 combo roll sushi and #92 assorted sushi was well worth the price. But why the "Spicy Add $0.25"? Couldn't they average a bottle of chilli sauce ($2.95) over the day's sales? I was impressed with the food enough to give them a try for dinner. Bill came to $21 for two, tips not included. I shall return.

I had been coming to this restaurant for a long time, more than 5 years. Use to drop by and a table was usually available. Now it’s advisable to make a reservation.

The food is excellent, tasty and of excellent quality. So why doesn’t it get a higher rating? Their Shanghai steam buns are the best in Richmond. As well as their smoke fish, egg yoke duck, and brown sauce duck. But the rest of the food arrives greasy: like sweet and sour deep fried fish and seaweed wrap prawns (this was not only greasy but the prawns were the size of toothpicks wrapped in too much batter). Also some of the dishes need a bit more time to cook flavor into the meat thoroughly and thicken the sauce (three flavor chicken hot pot); they suffer from an overly busy kitchen.

Almost lost a friendship over this restaurant! My friend and I mutually choose this restaurant to try because of the late night hours. He had been there with his main squeeze, must had his eyes on something else but he left his taste buds at home. The chef cooks like they’re double promoted dishwashers. The food sucks and was greasy to boot. We ordered the wine chicken hot pot (cooked fondue style) for the table. The food arrived quickly but the chicken tasted like it had been in the barnyard too long. The rice congee had been thickened with cornstarch. Every Chinese villager knows that to make congee; take a small amount of rice and boil in a little water until thicken. How hard is that?

My second visit was again late night and my friend (just arrived back from Israel) convinced me that it was half way between us and to give it another try. Order the wine chicken hot pot again but I told the waitress not to add the MSG. To my chagrin, the soup stock was dumb down with hot water. This was done I guess to hide the MSG. And the chicken came to our table frozen and when I point this out to her, she assured me that it would taste the same but it’ll just take a little longer to cook! The rest of the meal was forgettable and I watched my friend eat because he claims the airplane food was worst.

Two days later we went out for lunch at the Double One (Hastings Street at Gilmore in Burnaby). Over lunch I told him "don’t call me again if you’re going to the Green Hut"! He felt responsible for two bad meals and appeased me (he paid) with this one.

I concord with the other reviews for the four star rating. The food along would warrant a four and half star but I’m saving the five stars for my ultimate experiences.
The smoke fish appetizer was adequate but not the best I’ve had. The Shanghai steam buns are tasty and juicy. Our Swiss chard and chicken soup with the additional bean thread noodles was a plenty (could serve eight persons), hot (great for winter) and satisfying (no MSG). The smoke tea duck is a duplicate from the ones in Shanghai; needless to say it was fragrantly smoked with the right moist and texture. The large crystal prawns sauté with fragrant sauce was excellent and numerous. And we had steam gold thread buns instead of rice. All the food I’ve had at this restaurant has been excellent and I’ve been here more than ten times.
The staff has always been attentive (remembered that I like making my Swiss chard soup into a Cantonese dish by adding bean thread noodles) and our dishes have always arrived on timely bases. But be sure to make a reservation, they are very full, arriving without a reservation will ensue a long wait.

Celebrated Chinese New Years (4,705) here with eight of our friends and my adopted Chinese Twin Brother. I helped him twig the menu with the Chinese translations.
Started with the appetizer cold plate, crisp skin chicken, sauté seafood mixed vegetables, steam whole fish, crab & lobster in cream sauce, smoke tea duck (definitely one of the best; nice and juicy), abalone with pea tips, Shanghai style gold coin noodles, Peking Style pork chops (in honor of the “Golden Pig”) and finished with red bean soup.
A feast fit for any Mandarin! All this for $30.00 per person tax and tips included.
I would also stop here for the BBQ duck.
The owners were very gracious and made us feel welcome. And if you want to spend more money…try the Golden Ocean Restaurant upstairs.

All the negative reviews on this restaurant came true to my horror.
Here are my additions: We sat at the Sushi counter and what an encounter with the "Sour faced moustached" Sushi chefs it was. Never a smile... thought I'd enter a oriental sweat shop. Tried to order from the "sushi chef" from behind the counter and he waved me off with disdain. Well, so much for warm customer relationships. I sat though dinner like as if I'd just got turndown from my first kiss with the Frog Princess.
And now the food........sushi rice was hard and under cooked. The negitoro roll's tuna and green onions were sent through a grinder (isn't it suppose to be chopped?). It had the texture and taste of school paste. Cut me experience short and went to another restaurant.

First time to this place. Ordered a few Maki rolls to try without spending a lot of money. The bill was about $21 for 2. But all the rolls had an excess amount of rice. The rice was mushy, no grain stucture (not fanned to cool after cooking) and no taste of rice vinegar. Asked the waiter if anybody else inquired about the rice........he said "no complaints yet".
I couldn't finished my share of the meal (I'm still hungry) but my companion clear the table without a chopstick pause.